For a long time, most people had only one telephone line or number to a household and only one call could be handled at a time. If a called party was using the telephone when a calling party tried to call, the calling party simply received a busy signal.
However, some people wanted to be able to receive a second telephone call even when they were already on a first telephone call. This need was accommodated by installing a second telephone number and a second telephone line, and rolling over (transferring) an incoming call to the second telephone number/line when the first telephone number/line was busy.
This approach required that an additional number be assigned at the central office, and that an additional line be run from the central office to the house. This increased the cost of the telephone service to the consumer. Also, this approach required that the consumer either have two telephones or have a telephone that could switch between the two telephone lines/numbers. Two telephone sets cost more and take up more space than one telephone set, and a multiple-line telephone set costs more than a single line telephone set. Some businesses were willing and able to pay the higher cost for the service and/or the multiple-line telephone sets, and provide any additional space necessary for two telephone sets or a multiple-line telephone set, but most individuals were not. Further, the inconvenience of switching between two telephone sets made the two-line approach undesirable for household consumers.
The next improvement was call waiting. With call waiting, if the called party was engaged in a first call when a calling party tried to call, the central office would play a ringback signal to the calling party, and would signal the called party of the incoming call by periodically interrupting the first call by means of a tone or a click or other audible indicator. If the called party wished to answer the incoming call then the called party signaled the central office by momentarily pressing the hookswitch to generate a "hookflash" signal. The central office would then place the first call on hold and connect the calling party to the called party. The called party could switch between the two calls by pressing the hookswitch. However, if the called party did not want to answer the incoming call then the called party simply ignored the audible indicator and, eventually, the calling party would hang up as the incoming call would remain unanswered.
This approach was satisfactory for many household consumers but created a new problem for small businesses. Many businesses had answering machines for use when the business was closed or when the called party was not available to answer the call. If someone tried to call during these times then the answering machine answered the call, played a prerecorded message, and recorded any information that the calling party wished to leave. However, if the called party was on another call then, because there is only one telephone line, the answering machine could not answer the call. So, in that case, the incoming call had to be answered by the called party or it was not answered at all. The calling party had no way of knowing whether the called party was on a call. The calling party merely knew that the call was not answered in person or by an answering machine. This gave the calling party that there was no one at the business to answer the call, or that the business did not care enough about its customers to answer a call or have an answering machine. The result was that the calling party was displeased with the apparent treatment of the call and, if this treatment was repeated several times, the calling party would eventually call a different business to purchase the desired product or service.
For example, if the called party has call waiting, but does not have the present invention or a CPE answering machine then, if the called party is on a first call when the calling party calls, the calling party will be irritated if the called party does not answer because: (1) the calling party will presume that the called party does not have an answering machine so the calling party cannot leave a message; (2) the calling party will know that the called party has an answering machine and be frustrated because the answering machine is not answering and so the calling party cannot leave a message; or (3) the calling party knows that the called party has an answering machine and also has call waiting and the calling party will know that, because the answering machine is not picking up, the called party must be on another call but not taking this call and so the calling party cannot leave a message with the called party or on the answering machine.
Therefore, one problem not addressed by the prior art is how best to accommodate an incoming call when a called party has call waiting and is already on a first call.
As described below, one solution to the above problem is to route an unanswered incoming call to an answering machine service provided by the telephone company. This provides answering machine capability without requiring two separate telephone lines to the business. However, there are different conditions wherein an incoming call may not be answered: (1) there is no one present at the called number to answer the incoming call; and (2) there is someone present at the called number but that person is currently on a first call and chooses not to answer the incoming call. This creates a problem because a message suitable for one condition may not be appropriate for the other condition. For example, assume that the business has call waiting, that the business is quite busy, and so the called party is on the telephone a substantial amount of time. If a second call, an incoming call, arrives then the called party may not answer because the called party is already on a first call. There is no answer so the call is forwarded to an answering machine service. If the message played by the answering machine service is that no one is there then the calling party, after hearing that message several times, will get the impression that the business is closed or is poorly staffed. The calling party may thus call elsewhere to obtain the goods or services needed. Conversely, if the business has closed for the night or weekend there will again be no answer so the call will be forwarded to an answering machine service. If the message played by the answering machine service is that the called party is busy, then the calling party will interpret the message to mean that the business is open. The calling party will therefore expect the call to be returned. The calling party will become irritated when the called party does not promptly return the call, and will believe that the business is too busy or not interested enough to return the call. The calling party may thus call elsewhere to obtain the goods or services needed. In either case, the message is inappropriate and so customers and potential customers may become dissatisfied and business opportunities may be lost.
Therefore, another problem not addressed by the prior art is how to properly advise a calling party of the reason for the call not being answered when a called party has call waiting regardless of whether the called party is or is not already on a first call.
Another problem of the prior art arises from the use of the existing call forwarding-call waiting-no answer feature. If the called party is on a first call, and there is an incoming call, and the called party does not take the incoming call, then, after a predetermined time, the central office will route the incoming call to some specified destination where, optimally, the calling party can hear a message and then leave a message for the called party. However, sometimes the incoming call is routed to the specified destination just before the called party is through with the first call. The called party is now through with the first call, and is willing to take the incoming call, but the incoming call is not available because it has been routed to another location. Therefore, the called party must call the messaging service to retrieve the message from the calling party and then return the call to the calling party. It would be an improvement if the called party could monitor the calling party leaving a message and connect to the calling party at any time before the calling party has hung up.
Although the above description of the problem is focused on a business environment, it will be appreciated that the same problem also occurs with respect to non-business environments.